According
to the Order of the Air Force Staff no. 530 /7.06.1943, beginning with May the
11th 1943, the 8th Fighters group of the 2nd
Wing, based on the Târgşor airfield will receive Henschel 129 B2 aircraft, and
was turned into the 8th ASSAULT Group. On the first day, the Group
had 12 officers, 18 petty officers, 18 technical petty officers and 270
privates. Captain IOAN CARA was appointed commander of the Group. The Group was
made of three squadrons: 41st, under the orders of Lt. Şotropa
Leonida, 42nd – Lt. Nicolae Serescu and 60th, commanded
by captain Ştefan Alexandrescu.

All
the pilots were sent by train to Kirovgrad, and there, for a short time, they
had flying courses for the twin engine attack aircraft He 129. It is remarkable
that the pilots were mainly petty officers coming from fighters and having two
years of experience, namely hundreds of flight hours in war missions. In June
1943, the pilots of the 8th Group started formation flights, so that
in July they should start operation activities. For a short period they moved
to the base airfield from Mariupol and then, on August 10th, they
started operational flight from Kramatorskaia. The first missions were flown
against Soviet infantry and tanks; the first pilot missing in action was Adj.
Petre Sârbu, on August 16th. By August 30th 1943 a new commanding
officer was appointed, Lt. col. Duţu Vasiliu. Between August 20th
and September 2nd 1943, the 8th Group came to Mariupol,
acting daily on the southern front. On his 26th mission, Adj.
Constantin Georgescu’s aircraft was hit by the enemy AA fire. Even witn=h an engine
ant and a r 1st 1943 on thedamaged wing he was able to land his No.
122 safely. In early September, Adj. Ion Enache from the the 42nd
Assault Squadron landed in no man’s land and he only managed to come back to
the airfield a few days later.

The
8th Assault Group moved, during the first week of September 1943 on
the StarâiBlinetî airfield. New pilots
came from Bucharest:
Lt. Rada Ion to the 42nd Squadron, Cap. Pretor Dimitrie to the 60th
Squadron, Second Lt. Ion Buda to the 42nd Squadron. Lt. Ion Rada
died in a flight on September 6th, and a few days later their former
German instructor, Lt. Orth Dieter, liaison officer to the 4th
German Air Fleet. Adj. Theodor Zăbavă could come back on foot after he was shot
down on September 14th, during a bombing mission.

The
squadrons of the 8th Assault Group were moved to the airfields from
Herson and Ganisetsk (September 19th – October 29th).
Adj. Ioan Poenaru was shot down by the enemy AA but he suvived and was taken
prisoner. He came back in 1945. Starting with October 29th, e 8th
Group moved to Tschaplinka airfield and operated from there until November 2nd.
Lt. Muntean Lazăr was shot doen over Soviet positions and was saved by Plt. Av.
Reitberber . Adj. Stoian Ion Dumitru from the 60th Squadron died on
November 2nd. The same day, the whole Group moved to the Cherson
airfield. There, the pilots made a real proof of their combat capabilities. The
Russians broke the southern front line and tens of thousands of Romanian
soldiers were threatened to be taken prisoners. For eight days the 8th
group managed hundreds of missions under enemy fire, saving Romanian troops
from death and captivity. During these fights, five He-129s were shot down and
two pilots were killed. Adj. Mladin Constantin fell inside the enemy lines but
was saved by Adj. Marinescu Ovidiu in a daring landing, as he was taken away
under the Russians fire.

Between
November 12th and January 7th 1944, the 8th
Group was based on the Nikolaev and Lapetika airfields. Two pilots were lost,
Adj. Verdeş Enache from the 42nd Squadron and Logofătu Ion, from the
41st Squadron.

The
8th Assault Group moved tom Odessa
airfield and fought from there on April 4th 1944. Then they came
back to Romania
to Tecuci airfield. Apt. av. Vlăsceanu Ion was appointed commander of the 41st
Squadron and Cpt. Eftimopol Ion took the command of the 60th.

From
June 30th to August 20th, 1944, the 8th
Assault Group was based on Matca airfield, near Tecuci. Starting with August
2oth, they fought from the airfield from Gherăieşti-Bacău.

After
the events of August 23rd, when Romania
joined the United Nations camp, the 8th Assault Group went to Craiova. Starting with
September 1944, they were moved to Balomir airfield, in Transylvania.
Till September 25th, the assault squadrons completed hundreds of
missions against the German and Hortyst forces for the liberation of Transylvania, a thousand year old Romanian territory.

Those
important loses in pilots and materials led to the unification of the 8th
Assault Group to the Diving-bombers Group. Till November 14th they
fought from Someşeni airfield qnd then from Turkeve and Miscolcz, Hungary.
Adj. Scripcaru Vasile died on the field of honour on January 13th,
1945.

The
8th Assault Group actually took part in the liberation of Czechoslovakia.
For months, they fought the enemy and the bad weather. By the end of January,
after repeated attacks and bombing missions at low altitude, they had an
important contribution in the liberation of Lovino-Bana, Roznova, Brezno and
Mihailovo. In February-March 1945, the 8th Assault-Diving Bombers
Group fought on the Hron
River, for the cities of
Kremnika, Hronska Breznika, Ocova. On February 25th, `1945, the 8th
Assault-Diving Bombers Group dropped on the enemy 20 tons of bombs from a low
altitude near Liehovek and Zolna. Lt. Dumbravă Victor was shot down by the
enemy AA. Even with a badly damaged aircraft, he crash landed and survived. The
8th Assault-Diving Bombers Group decisively contributed to the
battle for Zvolen and the industrial and communication center of Uherski Brod.